Running Away From Home

A certain child of mine tends to get very mad and when in the throes of being sent to his room for a time out he decided he was going to run away. He hid in various areas of the back yard and I stubbornly refused to go looking for him. After a half hour or so his brothers irritated by my seeming lack of concern hunted him down and captured him quite literally as he tried to run off down the road upon being spotted.

Contrary to my threats of an end to all of our plans for the day I offered a suggestion of letting this go and getting our shoes on instead to go down to the river. That was received well and though I had a brief chat to my son about the importance of time outs for our family at this time I let it go quickly. As I was getting my shoes on to head out the door I almost squished the blueberries that my darling son spilled and dumped into my shoe upon his initial flee from time out. I thought about getting mad but decided not to mention it.

I did come across this on my Facebook wall recently and thought it was good for a laugh. In the throes of a very busy home life I indeed feel this way some of the time.

In regards to time outs – yes I do use them. I spent many, many years opposed to them but have recently decided that it is in the best interest of everybody that we take some space when things get heated. I have mixed feelings about it and I try to present them in a very positive way. It’s not about power but rather sanity for us all. We do the best we can don’t we?